NOVEMBEK 28, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



755 



successful handling of the national forests 

 requires annual expenditures in adminis- 

 tration and protection and in development 

 of roads, trails, telephones, buildings and 

 other improvements necessary for proper 

 administration. "We seek, therefore, as 

 fast as possible to develop through classifi- 

 cation the permanent boundaries of the 

 forest land, and the management of it ac- 

 cording to definite far-sighted plans that 

 will make for the best results of all expend- 

 itures in the long run. The result sought 

 is an efficient business administration, a 

 proper and adequate forestry practise, and 

 development of the public property in the 

 interests of the people who own it. These 

 simple principles have been kept in mind 

 since the first organization of the work by 

 Mr. Pinchot, who was more than any other 

 one man responsible for what has been ac- 

 complished in forestry in this country. 



The national forests have now been under 

 administration fifteen years, and under the 

 Forest Service for eight years. The aim of 

 the present administration is not to over- 

 turn, but to take every possible step to in- 

 crease efficiency of the organization, to ad- 

 just difficulties, and advance as fast as pos- 

 sible the purposes for which the national 

 forests were established. Secretary Hous- 

 ton recently said to me regarding the 

 national forests: 



' ' Establish permanent boundaries. Clas- 

 sify your lands ; segregate the agricultural 

 land and fix right limits for what is needed 

 as protective and productive forests. 

 Develop permanent policies based on full 

 recognition of lasting public interests, and 

 settled forestry practise fitted to the indi- 

 vidual needs of each forest and locality. 

 Study efficiency; make any changes neces- 

 sary for this purpose, but make no changes 

 that are not clearly called for in the public 

 interest. Carry out your plans for the 

 development and increasing use of the 



forests; but above all, make each forest 

 work for community upbuilding and local 

 as well as general welfare. "We must al- 

 ways have in mind the men and women who 

 are building up a new country and laying 

 the foundations for prosperous, thriving 

 commonwealths. "We must try to study 

 their needs and see where and how the 

 forests can help them. But we must not 

 cease to guard effectively against the evils 

 of private privilege and monopolistic con- 

 trol of resources now the property of the 

 public. ' ' 



The first important result of national 

 forestry is a demonstration that the forests 

 can be protected from fire. It was only a 

 few years ago that many asserted this to be 

 impossible. In the northwest the smoke 

 season was as inevitable as the rainy sea- 

 son of winter, and this was not merely the 

 result of clearing land but from forest fires. 

 It is only recently that our own forest 

 officers have regarded lookout stations as 

 feasible in certain places; for lookout sta- 

 tions are useless if smoke hides the view. 

 This year has been the worst in many 

 respects of all years in California because 

 of the frequency of lightning fires. Yet 

 the lookout stations on only two forests, and 

 then only for a short time, were out of com- 

 mission because of smoke; and the smoke 

 came from fires on private lands. This 

 year in California there were over 1,100 

 fires on the timbered areas. These were 

 kept down to an average of a little over 20 

 acres per fire. This was done by an effec- 

 tive fire organization and through the 

 means of the trails, telephones and lookout 

 system. In one storm lightning set over 

 20 fires on one forest. It takes swift and 

 efficient work to handle such a situation. 

 The results so far attained show that fires 

 can be mastered. But it is necessary first 

 to put the forest in a condition to enable 



